While Empress Market stood as a reminder of the Inglorious Empire [1], the state-sanctioned demolitions of the ‘encroachments’ around it became a stage the developmental elite to display it neo-colonial power [2]. This project traces erasure of native ways of being that had grown organically within and outside Empress Market in Karachi, using techniques of feminine labour employed by women who worked in the area.  

[1] Tharoor, Shashi. Inglorious empire: What the British did to India. Penguin UK, 2018. 

[2] Anwar, Nausheen. "Receding rurality, booming periphery." Economic & Political Weekly, 2018